Crunch Time

It's finally happening.  We're pulling into the home stretch of Regular Decision.  The long days at home reading files have turned into long days at work discussing applications around our conference room table.  I actually felt nostalgic as I perused applications at Le Pain Quotidien this weekend.  Sniff sniff.  I like reading season.

For me committee always brings mixed emotions.  In a perfect world, the entering class size, like the seating in the dining hall, would always be n + 1; reality, unfortunately, is not so accommodating.  It's thrilling to watch the Class of 2015 take shape, but not so delightful to confront the physical limitations that bind our decisions.  You applied to Mudd because you want a low student-professor ratio, great research opportunities, and an intimate residential community; maintaining those require that we not admit every single student we admire and consider potentially successful.  And that's painful.

The sheer volume of paper involved in the Regular Decision process is nothing short of staggering.  Aileen's office (top photo) has been completely taken over by buckets of applications, and there are again as many buckets stashed in auxiliary locations throughout Kingston.  You've heard the disparaging term "paper pusher" used for office workers; judging from how much time we spend physically carting around admission files, I can't deny the phrase is apt.  I'm building some serious muscle from toting the file bins.  Paper is heavy!

Here's the 13,000th photo of the committee room, where we spend all our daylight hours. I'm responsible for signing off on our decisions for each candidate.  Note the official red pen.

Also note the giant bar of chocolate.  I'm responsible for this too.